many humble petitions, besought pardon of the legate, and so, at last, they went through the middle of the city of Lon don to the palace of the bishop of Durham, where the legate was at that time being entertained, and thus they obtained pardon, study being restored at Oxford, and the before-named sentences relaxed. About this time died Joanna, queen of Scotland, and sister of the king, who had come to England to visit the king, her brother ; and she was buried at Tarrant, in a house of nuns, on the fourth of March. This year also, sentence was given in favour of the monks of Rochester, by the lord the pope, in the controversy which had arisen between the archbishop and those monks concerning the election of their bishop. And the bishop whom they had elected, namely, Master Richard of Wendover, was confirmed on Saint Guthbert's day. About the same time, Baldwin, emperor of Constantinople, having been expelled from the Greek empire, came to France and England to obtain useful counsel and assistance for the recovery of his rights, from the French and English sovereigns, as they were his friends and kinsmen. And he brought with him the crown of thorns, which the Jews plaited and placed on the head of Jesus Christ when they crucified him. The same year also, the lord the king of England sent a military aid to the emperor Frederic, to enable him to subdue his rebellious subjects in Italy, under the command of William the elect of Valence, Henry de Trubleville, a celebrated knight; and William Hardel, a clerk, under whose orders the English army, being well paid by the king, fought gallantly for the lord the emperor throughout the whole summer, not without doing great mischief to the Lombards, who were rebelling against the empire, on which account the pope conceived great indignation against the English. About the same time, the soldan of the Persians, who was a most mighty prince, and very friendly to the lord the emperor, and of whom confident hopes were entertained that he would some day or other receive the sacrament of baptism, went the way of all flesh. This year also, Simon de Montfort transferred himself to the Roman court, where, after he had lavished a vast sum of money, he prevailed on the lord the pope to grant a ratification of the marriage which, not without some injury to his conscience, he had contracted with Eleanor, sister of king Henry